Swisscom publishes prospectus for the acquisition of PubliGroupe Ltd

On 28 May 2014, Tamedia Ltd and Swisscom announced their intention to further develop directory services together. Against this background Tamedia stated that it will tender the PubliGroupe shares it owns (amounting to a stake of 17.56%) to Swisscom in the event that the latter's takeover bid is successful. On 17 June 2014 PubliGroupe and Swisscom agreed that Swisscom would raise its offer to CHF 214 per PubliGroupe share, taking Swisscom's total bid for all PubliGroupe shares to around CHF 475 million. Major shareholders in PubliGroupe (25.28%) have agreed to accept Swisscom's bid at the increased offer price, meaning that there are obligations to accept the Swisscom offer extending to around 42.8% of the PubliGroupe shares (excluding the shares held by PubliGroupe, around 5.5%). Today Swisscom has published the offer prospectus for the public acquisition of PubliGroupe. The bid is valid under the condition that Swisscom receives at least two thirds of the PubliGroupe shares. The offer period will begin on 8 July 2014 and is expected to close at 4 p.m. (CET) on 5 August 2014. The Board of Directors of PubliGroupe is recommending acceptance of the Swisscom offer to its shareholders.